Steam-generator



(No Modell) ZSheets-Sheet 1. J. OFNIGHOLS.

STEAM GENERATOR.

Patented July 5,.1887.

N, PETERS, Pholn-Llthogmpher. Wnhingion, 0,0.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shet -2.

' J. O. NICHOLS.

STEAM GENERATOR.

Patented July 5, 1887..

N. PETERS PhourLilhographcr. Wnhinglon. n.c.

NITE' STATES,

ArEr tries.

J. OLTNTON NICHOLS, OF PUTNAM, CONNECTICUT.

sTEAM-eENERAToR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 365,934, dated July 5, 1887.

Application filed April 23, 1887.

T0 aZLwhom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J. CLINTON NIonoLs, of Putnam, in the county of WVindham and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam -Generators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. 7

My invention relates to an improvement in steam generators, and more particularly to that class of generators in which the boiler is formed in sections.

The object is to provide a boiler having an extended fire exposure, and in which the direction of the circulation shall be positively determined.

A further object is to provide'convenient means for removing elinkers and soot from the fire-pot and fire-exposed surfaces of the water-chambers and depositing them in the as'lrpit.

A further object is to provide means for directing the flame and heated products of combustion beneath, around, and over the steamdome before they enter the smoke-pipe.

A further object is to so construct the sec tio'ns that there will be a minimum amount of packing required between the joints, and to provide a generator which, taken as a whole,

shall be simple, efficient, and durable, and

capable of being manufactured at a reasonable cost.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l a vertical central transverse section of the generator. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section taken through the generator from front to rear. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through line a: a: of Fig. 1. Fig. 4is a detached sectional view of the grate; and Figs. 5 and 6 represent modified constructions of parts.

A represents the outer wall or shell of the generator extending upwardly, preferably in cylindrical form, from the base B, within which the aslrpit O is located. The generator herein shown is of the portable form and in- Serial No. 235,866. (No model.)

cased in a double wall of sheetiron; but it might be set in brick as a stationary generator, if so preferred. The fire-pot D has a hollow wall, in which the water is allowed to circulate freely, and the pot itself rests upon suitable shoulders or projecting plates, b, at the top of the base.- A space, E, is left between the outer wall of the fire-pot and the inner wall of the casing for the free circulation. of heat, and also serves as a conduit for the soot and ashes to pass through on their way to the ashpit, as will hereinafter appear. The lower portion of the fire-pot is lined on the fire side with a thin layer, 6, of fire-brick, which ad mits of raising the burning coals to such a degree of heat that they will be entirely consumed to ashesan advantage which the non-lined water-jacketed fire-pots in common use do not possess, the influence of the water being sufficient to prevent the necessary degree of heat to completely consume the coal in the immediate vicinity of the wall. The upper portion of the fire-pot is, however, exposed to the heat of the burning coals in immediate contact there with, and also the flame from the coals in the lower portion when but a small amount of coal is in the pot, and the water located in the upper portion of the pet will therefore first feel the heat from the fire, and will set in motion the circulation, which forms a prominent feature of my present invention. The top of the firepot wall D is provided with a pair of openings, cl, preferably of circular form, and lo eated diametrically opposite each other on the right and left of the front. The entrance from the water-chamber to the opening on the right is flush, or nearly so, with the top Wall of the chamber; but the corresponding entrance to the opening on the left is several inches (more or less) below the top wall of the chamber and is so formed by partition-walls d, which extend downwardly from the top of the opening on the two opposite sides thereof. The opening on the right from the water-chamber in the firepot to the water-chamber in the crown-section F is thus practically higher than the corre sponding opening on the left. The crownsection F is a hollow plate ,preferably deeper at the central portion, as shown, than at the portion between the center and periphery, and is provided on the right and left with openings ient.

7, adapted to register with the openings d in the top of the fire pot wall, and with openings f directly above the openings f for communication with the next thin or intermediate section, G. Both the fire-pot and crown-sections are bulged outwardly in semicular form at the points where the connection openings are formed, thus causing about one-half of the wall of the opening to be formed within the natural circumferential periphery of the section and the other half outside of such periphery, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. A short distance above the crown-section F the thin or intermediate section, G, is located. It is hollow and of ring form, the opening in the center being sufficiently large to allow the products of combustion to escape freely. The section G is provided with connectionopeningsg and g in its under and upper edges, the openings 3 being adapted to register with the openings f in the crown-section F and the openings 9 with the openings h in the base of the steamdome H. The bottom of the steam-dome H is preferably arched, as shown at h, and located a short distance above the top of the section G. The space around the section G, between the edge of the section and the casing, is cut off by a plate, I, in a plane. about flush with the top of the section G. From the edges of the walls encircling the inner halves of the openings g and f on one side of the generator depend semicircular flanges K, which, in c011- nection with the semicircular outer walls of the openings, carry the ends of the openings on the left of the generator below the corresponding ends on the right. This tends, in conjunction with the lowering of the end of the opening (I and the action of the heat upon the water in the upper portion of the fire-pot wall, to force a circulation of water from the top of the fire-pot on the right upwardly through the several connection-openings, d, f, f, g, g, and lz,onthe right,and down through the corresponding openings on the left, asindicated by the arrows. The adjacent ends of the walls surrounding the outer halves of the connection-openings are provided with laterally-extending flanges 70, through which extend the draw-bolts L, for securing the sec tions tightly together. The joints may be made water-tight by planing the ends and inserting a suitable packing, or one of the meeting ends may be provided with an annular groove and the other with an annular rib adapted to fit within the groove, and soft packing be inserted in the groove, or a rustjoint formed, as may be found most conven- Fig. 5 represents the groove-and-rib construction.

In order that the generator may-have as great capacity as possible in a room of a de-T termined height, the smoke-pipe M is connected with the casingAat the upper portion of the side, instead of on top. In order to force the heated products of combustion completely around and over the steam-dome when the smoke-pipe is thus attached at the side, a

v off into the smoke pipe.

thin sheet-metal guide, N, is secured to the casing below the smoke-pipe orifice and extends in crescent form over half or more of the top of the dome, completely separating, as far as it goes, the space between it and the top of the dome from the space between it and the top of the casing, thus forcing the smoke and heated gases which arise on the smoke-pipe side of the dometo travel over the top of the same until they reach the edge of the guidesheet N, where they, together with the smoke and gases which have arisen around and over the remaining portion of the dome, are drawn By following the directions of the arrows it will be observed that the flame and heated products of combustion pass from the fire-pot to the under side of the crown-section, and thence outwardly around its periphery and over its top, beneath the infrom the fire-pot to the top of the casing, and

yet is caused to almost completely envelop the boiler-sections, thus utilizing almost the entire amount of heat before the smoke and gases reach the smoke-pipe. When there is plenty of headroom, the smoke-pipe may be attached to the top of the casing, as shown in Fig. 5, and the guide-sheet N may then be dispensed with. The front of the generator is provided with several doors, as follows: A door, 0, for

gaining access to the ash-pit, is provided with a damper, o, to admit air and increase the draft. A door, P, is provided to admit the shaker for manipulating the grate, and at a point in the fire-pot just above the grate there is an opening, q, through which the cinders may be drawn from the fire-pot and allowed to fall into the ash-pit. The opening q is closed by a door or guard, q, so hinged to the door Q in the casingthat when the latter is closed the guard q will swing into position to close the opening q and prevent the coal and ashes from crowding into the opening.

R is the door for the admission of fuel, and is provided with a damper, r, for letting. cold air into the fire-pot above the fuel to reduce the heat. Opposite the spaces between the crown-sectionyand intermediate section and the dome are doors S and s, for the introduction of a scraper to clean the soot and ashes from the under side of the dome, upper and under sides of the intermediate section, and upper side of the crown-section. The soot and ashes from above fall onto the crown-section and are pushed or drawn over the edges of the section, whence they fall into the space T between the casing and ash-pit wall, and may be drawn thence into the ash-pit through doors t, providedin the ash-pit wall for the purpose.

The grate consists of a circular bar, U, provided with inwardly-extending prongs u, and

a central set of bars, a, surrounded by a circular rim having rearwardly and forwardly eX- tending prongs a and when which the circular bar U rests and to which it is secured by forked lugs to and a. The forwardly extending prong a terminates in a suitable head, a, for receiving the end of the shaker. The central set of bars, a, are supported upon the saddle V, to which they are secured in a horizontally-rocking adjustment by a central depending stud, 2), adapted to work loosely in a perforation at the central portion of the saddle. The grate u is permitted to dump by the rocking of the saddle V in its bearings 12, and the circular bar U is prevented from tilting with the bars a byside supportsflV, on which are loosely mounted anti-friction rollers 10, on which the bar U immediately rests; but this grate forms no part of my present invention.

The generator as thus described is provided with the usual fixtures, the water-gage, jet cocks, and safety-valve being shown at Y and the steanrgage at Z. There is also attached the pressure-regulator, X for automatically actuating dampers at the base and in the smokepipe. The return-drip enters the the pot sec tion near its base, as shown at 2.

It is evident that numerous slight changes might be resorted to in the form and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my, invention; hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the construction herein set forth; but,

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a steam generator, the combination, with a fire-pot and boiler, of walls projecting into the waterispace of the boiler on one side thereof, adapted to lower the water-connections between two water-sections of the boiler, sub-- with several water-sections arranged in a vertical series and connected with each other at flanges depending from the upper ends of the connections on one side of the generator, and serving,in conjunction with the outer connection walls,to lower the ends of the connections, for the purpose substantially as set forth.

4. In a steamgenerator, the combination, with a fire-pot water-section, a crown watersection, and an intermediate water-section, and water-connections arranged in vertical series on opposite sides of the gcnerator, of flanges depending from the upper ends of. the inner walls of the connections on one side of the generator, for the purpose substantially as set forth.

5. In a steam'generator, the combination, with the firepot, water-sections, and steamdome, of a guide-sheet over the top of the dome,adapted to deflect the heated products of combustion over the dome, substantially as set forth.

6. In a steam generator, the combination, with the several watersections, steam-dome,

and fire-pot, of the crescent shaped guidesheet located between the top of the dome and the top of the casing, for the purposesubstantially as set forth.

7. The fire-pot water section, the crown water-section, the ring-shaped intermediate sec tion, and the arch-bottomed steanrdome, ar-

ranged and connected substantially as set forth.

8. In a steam-generator, the vertical series of water-sections, the doors opening to the spaces between the sections, and the doors communicating with the ash-pi t, combined and J. CLINTON NICHOLS.

\Vitnesses:

L. H. FULLER, F. W. PERRY.

points diametrically opposite, of semicircular 

